Leisure World May Become a City of Retirees

Some of the names proposed by residents for the new city--Geezerville and Rx, in particular--were obviously made in jest, but they’re also a clear clue that something is decidedly different here.

This is Leisure World, where a vote to incorporate in Tuesday’s special election would make it simultaneously the youngest and the oldest city in California. That’s because the average age of the 18,000 people in the gated retirement community is 77.

“It would be exciting,” said 88-year-old City Council candidate Helen Mills-Lindsay, who is running among a field of 16 along with her husband, Harry, 76. “I go to a gym class where there are a whole lot of people over 90,” she said. “We are wonderfully healthy.”

But elder manifest destiny, although perhaps still a political novelty, isn’t really the issue.

Ask Bea Hassel Rogatz, who at 91 is the oldest council candidate, although she opposes cityhood. “There is no reason we should be looking for trouble by having another layer of government,” she said. “It would be a mistake.”

The incorporation campaign has sparked interest among those who see Leisure World as a harbinger of things to come in society as city populations grow older with the flood of aging baby boomers. “Leisure World gives us a look into the future as America ages and we live longer,” said Mark Baldassare, professor of urban and regional planning at UC Irvine.

The results should be interesting, he said, because older citizens vote in heavier numbers and are politically active.

Although it’s not an incorporation issue, it’s also not lost upon observers that if cityhood passes, Leisure World would become the fourth fully gated city among the state’s 471 municipalities, along with Rolling Hills and Hidden Hills in the Los Angeles area and Canyon Lake in Riverside County. Leisure World is now an unincorporated area of Orange County, next to Laguna Hills.

“There are plenty of people who are concerned about fortressing,” said Kristen Day, an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at UC Irvine.

Some social scientists see gated cities and communities as a retreat from society at large and feel making gated areas into cities is the next step in the wrong direction.

Industry experts believe that Leisure World stands to become the nation’s first municipal retirement community.

On most mornings, 2,100-acre Leisure World is teeming as residents crowd golf courses, clubhouses, recreational facilities, the library and more.

There are also about 200 community clubs.

The scene one day last week: At one of the five pools, about 50 women undulate in unison in the sloshing water to a Tijuana Brass tape. In the weight room (where one white-haired man wears a T-shirt reading “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Reach a Beer”), lead clanks and faces are determined.

Nancy Carter, supervisor of the fitness center, said about 16,000 residents a month work out. “We’ve about doubled in five years,” she said. “These people want to stay young and be able to do stuff.”

The only stark difference here is there are no young people to speak of, not until the weekends, when the bulk of the fidgety grandchildren descend.

“I can say I don’t miss my kids coming home with the car radio going at 100 decibels of hard rock,” said Bob Ring, leader of the pro-cityhood campaign.

There’s a wide variety of housing (all units, whether cooperatives or large single-family homes, are called manors).

Self-government is mainly provided by an elected board of 11 members who serve three-year terms, Ring said.

The board operates common facilities, such as the recreational amenities, and would still exist even if there’s a City Council.

Leisure World now relies on the county to provide police and fire protection, street maintenance and planning services--all of which would become the council’s responsibility if voters so decide Tuesday.

Beside whether to incorporate, residents will choose the five council members and decide whether they’ll serve at-large or from districts within the community.

Voters will also determine whether the city’s new name is Leisure World Laguna Woods or Leisure World Laguna Verde.

At one point, residents suggested 188 prospective names, including Geezerville, Viagra Village, Rx and Playtime, but those were predictably winnowed out.

A 1992 cityhood campaign failed, but if Tuesday’s vote goes through, Leisure World would become Orange County’s 32nd city.

Backers of city status point out that they are now represented by only one of five members of the county Board of Supervisors. “We are [among] 550,000 people [Supervisor] Tom Wilson administers,” Ring said. “As a city, we’d have five people to decide local issues.”

Key among those issues is resisting conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to a commercial airport. The military base’s runways are directed right at Leisure World, where residents worry about the noise from frequent jet flights.

Cityhood, Ring and others contend, would give residents governmental standing to fight the airport plan, which a majority of county supervisors support.

He also sees a need for more police service because the open fields that once surrounded Leisure World have been replaced by suburban sprawl.

Council candidate Mills-Lindsay, a retired psychotherapist, says a city structure can better meet the retirement community’s special health needs.

“I’m concerned about long-term care and the fact we really have no help for this,” she said. Incorporation would protect Leisure World from being gobbled up by neighboring Aliso Viejo, should it become a city, she said.

“They’re not going to care about old people,” said Mills-Lindsay.

City supporters cite county revenue projections to boost their promise that Leisure World could support itself.

To make sure there are sufficient funds, county authorities placed some sales-tax-producing commercial property just outside Leisure World in the city’s boundaries.

Cityhood foes question the financial projections and fear that a city would just add a layer of government and new taxes or fees.

“I can’t see any advantages; there’ll be city taxes,” said Helen Ensweiler, head of the anti-incorporation group in Leisure World.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

City of Leisure?

Leisure World residents will vote Tuesday to decide if

their community will become Orange County’s 32nd city.

Leisure World at a Glance

* Opened: 1964

* Population: Approx. 18,000

* Minimum age: 55 (one occupant of each household)

* Average age: 77

* Area: 2,095 acres (3.2 square miles)

* Dwelling units: 13,000

Sources: Leisure World, Times reports